This invention pertains to postal equipment, and more particularly to a conversion or attachment unit for making a standard manually settable postage meter compatible in an electrical environment.
With more and more processing equipment becoming electrically controlled, a need is emerging for converting mechanical postal systems and equipment to electrical control.
Because present federal law prevents the direct modification or redesign of a postage meter, the invention concerns itself with the logical alternative, viz., a conversion attachment.
While conversion attachments are not new per se, the present invention features a novel mechanism packaged as a unit which provides ease of adaptability, assembly, reliability and low cost of manufacture.
A postage meter conversion unit not unlike the present invention is illustrated in patent application Ser. No. 705,477; filed July 15, 1976. This prior apparatus set each lever of the postage meter in a simultaneous manner, but because of the mismatch in the drive and lever motions, it required precise alignment of the drive and levers. The present inventive unit provides a drive unit which can accommodate the arcuate motion of the setting levers of the associated postage meter.